


Sleeping With Ghosts

by Crown_of_Winterthorne



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6290281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crown_of_Winterthorne/pseuds/Crown_of_Winterthorne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because sometimes it's Zechs who wakes with nightmares of the past.</p><p>Title from the song by Placebo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleeping With Ghosts

He woke with a gasp and Treize's name on his lips.

Breathing deeply, Zechs forced himself to take in his surroundings, remind himself that he was safe in his own room, in his own bed. Outside it was storming, the wind rattling the windows and the rain pounding on the roof. The crashing of thunder echoed his nightmares.

"Libra?"

He turned his head towards the gentle voice, mildly aware of the wetness on his cheeks and the phantom ache in his chest where old wounds had healed better without than they had within.

Beside him, a cautious 18 inches away, Duo Maxwell lay propped up on his elbow, looking down at Zechs with concern. His braided hair was mussed from sleep, falling over his bare shoulder to coil between them on the crisp white sheets. Seeing Duo look at him with those world-weary eyes made Zechs feel somehow worse, though he knew Duo would never want him to blame himself for the nightmares. They both had their demons that came for them in the night.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, remembering—always remembering—that first time he'd woken from the dreams with Duo in his bed.

"No, I'm okay," Duo assured him, scooting closer and laying a hand upon Zechs' chest now that he was lucid. "You weren't thrashing around much tonight."

Zechs relaxed under those assurances as much as the gentle touch. He reached up, caressing Duo's cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Six years. Six years and I still see it. Him."

Duo nodded, leaning into his hand. "I know, baby."

"If it hadn't been for me, he never would have come to space," Zechs let his hand fall, looking up at the ceiling with eyes that were seeing stars and battles rather than reclaimed tin panels. "He wouldn't have challenged Wufei."

"He would have," Duo shook his head, tracing idle patterns over Zechs' torso. "Maybe not then, but he would have done it. And he would have lost no matter where it was—Fei was the better pilot, no matter what fucked-up pedestal he likes to put Treize on."

"Wufei shouldn't blame himself. I... I was the one..."

"Zechs, no," he insisted, this argument old and familiar and as painful as ever. "We all fucked up in those last days. Treize made his decisions the same as you."

"You know I can't accept that."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I know. And you know I blame Treize for manipulating every single one of us. He forced Heero to kill the Doves. He forced Wufei to kill him. He forced you into a corner—a corner that led you to made some very bad, very fucked up choices, I'll admit—but you wouldn't have done it without his schemes. I'll keep saying that until you believe it."

"Duo..." he turned onto his side, curling into his lover until his head was in Duo's lap and his arms around his waist. Duo leaned over him protectively, rubbing his trembling shoulders and stroking his baby-fine hair. "He wasn't always that way. He had more honor, once."

Duo didn't argue against his defense of the man who had been his friend, his mentor, his brother. That was out of bounds, had been since the early days of their relationship. Zechs could tolerate criticism of the man Treize had become, but not of the man he had known and pledged his loyalty to.

Instead, what Duo said—in nearly a whisper—was, "And you got yours back."


End file.
